This IMA Volume in Mathematics and its Applications COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS AND REACTING GAS FLOWS is in part the proceedings of a workshop which was an integral part of the 1986-87 IMA program on SCIENTIFIC COMPUTATION. We are grateful to the Scientific Committee: Bjorn Engquist (Chairman), Roland Glowinski, Mitchell Luskin and Andrew Majda for planning and implementing an exciting and stimulating year-long program. We especially thank the Workshop Organizers, Bjorn Engquist, Mitchell Luskin and Andrew Majda, for organizing a workshop which brought together many of the leading researchers in the area of computational fluid dynamics. George R. Sell Hans Weinberger PREFACE Computational fluid dynamics has always been of central importance in scientific computing. It is also a field which clearly displays the essential theme of interaction between mathematics, physics, and computer science. Therefore, it was natural for the first workshop of the 1986- 87 program on scientific computing at the Institute for Mathematics and Its Applications to concentrate on computational fluid dynamics. In the workshop, more traditional fields were mixed with fields of emerging importance such as reacting gas flows and non-Newtonian flows. The workshop was marked by a high level of interaction and discussion among researchers representing varied "schools of thought" and countries.